Major Courses and Plans of Study
With the urban affairs and planning concentration, you will choose from a range of core courses tailored to you interests as well as taking a set of required degree courses. Explore a few of the concentration courses below, or download a full plan of study as part of the the MPA or MID program.
- PIA 2705 - Neighborhood & Community Development
The concept of neighborhoods in cities has had many meanings and understandings over time. The neighborhood can be interpreted as a spatial, social, political, racial, ethnic, cultural or economic unit. How have urban neighborhoods changed? What has been the impact of local, state and federal policies on neighborhoods over time? What role has and does community development play in neighborhood development? How and why did some urban neighborhoods decline in the 20th century? How have urban neighborhoods revitalized? What are current impacts of the COVID19 pandemic and how are they affecting local planning? This course focuses on neighborhoods and community development largely in the North American urban context over the post-World War II period, with international comparisons. For cultural studies students, we include a dedicated focus on placemaking as a means for revitalization across city neighborhoods and international comparisons of cultural regeneration strategies, particularly in the COVID and post-COVID era. We use many examples from the Pittsburgh region, providing a wonderful source of cases for helping to advance your understanding of neighborhood and community development. The course will introduce students to the dynamics of neighborhood change, with an emphasis on equity issues explicit and implicit in cities and urban development, neighborhood data analysis and tools for analyzing neighborhood development and change, history of urban development, and policies and plans that have helped to shape and transform urban neighborhoods.
- PIA 2188 - Economic Development Strategies & Practices
This course focuses on sub-national, local economic development. This course will encompass theory, policy, process and practice in state and local economic development. Our focus will be largely in the North American urban context over the post-World War II period, with international comparisons. We will also use examples from Pittsburgh in furthering our understanding of local economic development practice. We will find that in the U.S. Context, there are different interpretations and meanings to economic development, both in theory and practice. These certainly differ at the international scale, as well. Specific topics include: equity issues in economic development, economic cluster analysis, tax increment financing, brownfields revitalization, retail, and regional governance. The purpose of the course is to provide the student with knowledge of the approaches to economic development in theory and practice, techniques and methods of analysis, and debates ongoing in the field. Students will select one economic development policy or case to analyze in depth over the course of the term.
- PIA 2715 - GIS for Public Policy
A geographic information system (GIS) is a powerful tool for the public sector and used in a variety of disciplines. GIS builds on existing methods while offering new dimensions. This course provides students with a solid foundation of the principles and applications of GIS, an introduction to the desktop software ArcGIS, and demonstrates its uses in the public sectors. Students utilize ArcGIS to analyze and display spatial and demographic data. The construction of policy is then predicated on analysis. Skills learned in core courses can be brought to this course and built upon. Students have the flexibility to focus on their particular area of interest within the public sector through project work. The course is taught via lecture and hands-on experience using the ArcGIS software.
